TOP executives from Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) will fly into Britain from Japan today (15/11) with a raised offer for Pilkington of £2.13BN, or 162p a share, The Times has learnt. The move by the Japanese group comes nearly two weeks after its 150p-a-share offer for Pilkington, worth £1.9 billion, was rejected by the glassmaker's board as being "materially short" of a price that it could recommend to shareholders. The original NSG bid for the 80% of Pilkington that it does not already own was already judged by Japanese investors to be stretching the limits of NSG's immediate financing capabilities. Many took the group's silence on how it would fund the bid as a sign that it had already geared itself to the hilt. Pilkington is a far bigger company than its Japanese suitor, with net profits last year that were nearly three times greater than NSG's.
